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Protocol for recording cell fires in Surrey prisons |
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Surrey Fire and Rescue Service’s Matt Burrows explains a new initiative to tackle arson within the county’s prisons
AN INITIATIVE TO TACKLE THE GROWING number of prison fires in Surrey has been an unqualified success – reducing arson within jail cells by almost 70 per cent in two months. As part of the initiative, Surrey Fire and Rescue Service’s Arson Task Force highlighted a number of pitfalls in the recording of offences of arson within prisons in the county. The service was attending fires started in cells on various wings, and statistics revealed the offender was being dealt with either internally or – if sufficiently serious enough – externally by the local police. The result was a system that dealt with serious offenders but did little to address the prevention aspect.
The Task Force decided that prison fire officers were too isolated with regard to investigation assistance, scene training and support from outside the establishment they worked. Prisoners who were known arsonists or on remand for arson were also not identified to the fire officers - again causing problems later on.
All Reported
To tackle the issue, A/DS Dale Brunt and the team analyst Milly O’Ryan-Bristow (both seconded from Surrey Police), along with the team manager Bryn Strudwick (SFRS) devised a protocol for dealing with cell fires. The system required all cell fires – no matter how minor – be reported to the arson team, who in turn would place them onto the police crime reporting system under a pre-determined and agreed heading of CRI (Crime related incident) Arson HM Prison. ADS Brunt said: “The offender would be dealt with by adjudication at the prison. This placed no burden on the police to take offenders to the local police station after lengthy bureaucracy and paperwork. Once the offender has had an adjudication, the outcome is given to the team for finalization. This is held on the police computer. If the fire was sufficiently serious – for instance if prison officers/other inmates were injured – the offender is reported in thesame way. Fire investigation attend the scene but this time the incident is dealt with formallyby police.”
Effectively, SFRS agreed a zero-tolerance approach with Police and prison officials, and then provided the necessary support and training to prison staff to ensure that cell fires could be effectively prosecuted, or other action taken. This brought a new dynamic to cell arsonists. Before, they could expect to start a fire in prison and face little action. Now, they know in advance that their sentence could even be extended by such actions – quite a deterrent, particularly to those approaching release. Other punishments include the removal of privileges for prisoners. HMPs Highdown and Downsview agreed to trial the protocol over a 12-month period. Between February 2006 and September 2006 there had been 11 fires in Highdown and Downsview. Since the introduction of the protocol there have been four incidents, which is a reduction of 64 per cent. All offences dealt with by police are shown detected arsons. The offenders are aware of the protocol.
They receive more by way of penalty such as privileges removed and time added to sentence through adjudication than through the criminal justice system due to the speed of review of each case. This, we believe, has now started to filter through to the prison population and has had already proven to have had a very positive effect.
Other Counties
Due to this protocol, Bronzefield Prison (a Surrey prison, privately run) asked and has become part of the reporting system. As a result of the success, the protocol is to be placed in the remaining prisons in Surrey with the help of the prison fire officers. The next stage is to have the Memorandum of Understanding agreed by local prison governors, then signed by all parties.
Arson reduction teams in West Sussex have also requested the protocol from the Surrey Arson Task Force in order to reduce fires in their prison establishments, and it is already understood to be working well in Lewes prison. An SFRS spokesman added: “Our Arson Task Force has had considerable success in this area, and the results speak for themselves. To achieve such a significant reduction in just a couple of months of operation is testament to the commitment of the team to make it work. It’s also a great example of how partnership can have a direct impact on outcomes. This wouldn’t have been possible without the enthusiastic co-operation of Surrey Police and the prison service.
“As with any prevention activity, reducing cell fires benefits the whole community. The less time our staff spend attending and investigating incidents in prisons, the more time is spent investigating other matters.” |
